RANCHO CUCAMONGA--A group of parents at Sacred Heart Parish School in Rancho Cucamonga have voiced deep opposition to an approved plan by Sacred Heart Parish Catholic Church to install a Verizon cell phone tower on church grounds, citing concern over radiation being emitted from the tower.

The Diocese of San Bernardino has an agreement with Verizon to build the tower, said diocese spokesman John Andrews. Andrews said radiation emission from the tower is projected to be ten times lower than the level permitted by the Federal Communications Commission.

"We would never enter into any agreement if we felt there could be any health risk to the students at the school," Andrews said.

The agreement is to build the tower at the western face of the school's "Blue Hall" which faces the northern edge of the school's green field, where children play.

Sacred Heart Parish, Andrews said, would be receiving monthly revenue from the Verizon agreement. Andrews said the money would go entirely to the parish, though he declined to specify the amount.

Parents at the K-8 school expressed outrage that they weren't notified about the project, which had been the works for at least two years, until this past October. The planning commission had approved a conditional use permit for the 45-foot tower in January and a building permit was approved in October, officials said.

"Our concern is that this is a threat to the health and safety of our children," said Edobor Gbenoba, a parent of one of the students. "We believe the first responsibility of any school is toward protection and providing a safe environment for the students."

Chito Alcantara said he had walked out of a second meeting held with parents held at the school regarding the tower a few weeks ago.

"I told (the parish minister) what's the use of us sitting here listening to you if everything is going to be approved by the Diocese," said Alcantara, who has been a parishioner since 2000 and a school parent for the past five years. "This is a private school, and we pay for the school, and we pay for the salaries of the teachers, so they should have at least had the courtesy to let us know and give us a heads up that this project was coming."

Andrews acknowledged that "communications about this project could have been better."

Gbenoba and other parents said they are considering removing their children from the school if the parish moves forward with the tower project.

An earlier plan would have placed the tower in the northern-most tip of the property, above the parking lot, north of the school grounds, but city setback requirements led the church to decide to move the tower to its present proposed location, Andrews said. Setback requirements are related more to the city's aesthetic policy direction -- not to radiation levels, according to Tabe Van der Zwaag, a city planner who was involved in the process related to the tower project.

Gbenoba said the he was told by a school official there was recent consideration of possibly moving the tower closer to Foothill Boulevard and the main church building on the southern part of the property.

"I'm not aware of any proposal to move the proposed site or any talks about that," Andrews said.

Andrews said the Diocese is "listening to the concerns being expressed and is working toward a solution that makes these folks more comfortable with this project."

Gbenoba said placement of the tower anywhere on the property would be unacceptable.

"The Catholic Church is the richest church in the world," Gbenoba said. "They have all the money in the world to conduct thorough research that is independent of the research they receive from Verizon, and they haven't done that. They cannot just make a statement that is not predicated on factual scientific evidence." neil.nisperos@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-483-9356 Follow @RanchoNow on Facebook and Twitter